BBC Bringing Back Time Commanders After 10yr Break

After a 10 year break, the BBC have commissioned a new series of the show Time Commanders for BBC4 it has been announced. This follows on from the recent recommissioning of Robot Wars, which returned to BBC2 last night.

For those of you to young to remember the original series, it saw a team of four contestants direct one side of a historical battle using a digital recreation of the conflict. Two of the team played as Generals, who has access to a strategic map, who gave orders to the other two team members who issued the commands.

The new version will be slightly different, and will have two teams of three who take control of opposing forces to compete against a computer which has been pre-programmed by historical experts. They will then go on to battle each other in one of history’s famous ancient conflicts.

“Time Commanders brilliantly combines intelligence and entertainment bringing history to life in a completely unique way,” comments Alan Tyler, Acting Controller of BBC Entertainment Commissioning. “BBC4 is its natural home, the show promises to be a truly compelling and fun watch.”

The original tv show used Creative Assembly’s Rome: Total War game engine, with a few minor tweaks, and re-enacted conflicts such as the Battle of Hastings, the Battle of Marathon and the Battle of Troy, with the players trying to come out as the winning side. There has been no news on whether Creative Assembly will be involved in this version, but they are still around as a company, and still making Total War games, so it’s entirely possible!

The new version of Time Commanders will air on BBC4 at some point next year, and is due to start shooting in the Autumn at BBC Glasgow.

Dave has over 20 years experience in the digital industry, and is founder and editor of Geektown. Obviously a huge geek himself, he can often be found in front of the latest tv show or movie, on various video games, or with his head in a comic book.